Nottingham Forest will launch a major community engagement programme next year, as they seek to promote diversity and build relationships with the city’s minority populations.

As part of that, a two-year-long celebration will kick off in the new year, marking two unique anniversaries – and at the heart of it will be the club’s focus on reaching out to the wider community.

During that period, it will be 70 years since the arrival in Nottingham of a large labour force from Jamaica, while it will also be 40 years since the Reds’ memorable back-to-back European Cup victories, in 1979 and 1980.

Linking the two anniversaries together, with a series of special events, will not only see the club celebrate the biggest successes in their history, but also forms part of their focus on promoting diversity and building relationships with the city’s minority populations.

Read More

The Reds hope this initiative can help unite Nottingham’s large Jamaican population with the club.

“Naturally, we shall be celebrating our club’s amazing past achievements with a series of events over the two-year period, starting in June of next year,” said Reds CEO Ioannis Vrentzos.

Vrentzos represented owner Evangelos Marinakis at a meeting in London to discuss the venture. It was hosted by the High Commissioner of Jamaica to the United Kingdom, His Excellency Mr Seth George Ramocan, and also attended by the visiting Jamaican Minister of Transport and Mining, the Hon. Lester Michael Henry.

Nottingham has one of the largest Jamaican diaspora communities and 70 years ago saw the arrival of the ‘Windrush’, which was the first of many boats carrying hundreds of Jamaicans to the UK to help with the rebuilding of parts of the country’s industry which had been lost during World War II.

“This is a truly exciting opportunity for our community, who are ardent sports fans and lovers of football, to join in the celebrations not only of Nottingham Forest FC but also to commemorate the arrival of many of their fathers, uncles, mothers and aunts to the UK’s shores in 1948 and beyond,” said High Commissioner Ramocan.

“From what I have learned, there will be dozens of Jamaican events with our main exports, being Reggae and our delicious dishes, to be attended also by our Reggae artists and sportsmen and women.

“The High Commission, in close cooperation with the Government of Jamaica, Nottingham Forest’s board and management and the local and regional authorities, will support the festivities and events with dedication and a very much hands-on approach.”

The plans for the celebrations from 2018 to 2020, and those for the active inclusion of the Jamaican diaspora in Forest’s football activities, are being finalised and are set to be rolled out from the second quarter of next year.

The Transport and Mining Minister, Lester Michael Henry, is also chairman of Jamaican Premier League side Humble Lions, and hopes this will be the start of good relations with the Reds.

“There are innumerable opportunities between our clubs in all areas of football that offer themselves for a long-term cooperation,” he said. “I am excited by the new owners’ vision and dedication to go beyond the average and seek new avenues, a new vision to foster relationships across the water and with a region that is closely tied to the UK and vice-versa.”